Hospital bed



April 16, 1940. HAYNES 2,197,304

HOSPITAL BED Filed March 31, 1938 abtowayi Patented Apr. 16, 1940 UNITEDsures PATENT OFFICE I. 2,197,304 7 HOSPITAL BED,

Herbert H. Haynes, Clarksburg, W. Va. Application March a1, 1938, SerialNo. 199,265

1 Claim.

. therewith a sectional bed spring, the sections of which may beadjusted to various relative angles.

In the treatment of certain diseases and conditions of patients it ishighly important, in many instances, to place the patient in a -positionat an angle to the horizontal. For instance, in the caseof shock, reliefof pain in lumbar puncture,

spinal anesthesia, etc., it is of paramount. im-

portance that the patient be placed in an inclined position with hishead at the bottom of the incline and his feet at the topthereof.Likewise in the case of peritonitis, it is importantthat the patient beplaced in the Fowler position, i. e;, an inclined position in which thepatients head is at the top of the incline and his feet at the bottomthereof.

Also it is an every day occurrence that the patient be moved to asitting'or reclining position for various reasons which will be readilyapparent. It is an object of the present invention therefore to providea hospital bed in which a supplemental frame is transversely pivoted tothe main bed frame, together with means for adjusting the supplementalframe about its pivot so as to move the head of the frame to a pointbelow the main frame or to a point above the same in accordance with therequirements of the disease or condition being treated,

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a hospitalbed having a pivoted supplemental frame together with simplified meansfor moving the frame about its pivot and locking it in either head downor ,head up position. I

A still further object of the invention consists incombining with apivoted supplemental frame, a sectional bed spring and means foradjusting the sections thereof to various relative angles.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved bed showing thesupplemental frame adjusted to head up position, the sectional bedspring being adjusted to one of its angular positions and indicated inpart in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1,looking inthe direction of the arrows.

. Figure 3 is an enlarged detail side elevational view of the mechanismfor operating the supplemental frame, and

Figure 4 is a side elevational view (reduced scale) of the bed, showingthe supplemental frame in normal horizontal position and the sectionalbed spring adjusted to one of its angular positions.

. Referring to the drawing in greater detail, the numeral 1 indicates abed of the general type used in hospitals, sanitariums and the like, andis composed of the end frames 2 and 3, and side members l rigidlyconnecting the end frames as indicated. 7

The supplemental frame is indicated by numeral 5 :and is pivotedintermediate its ends by a shaft 6 passing through the members 4 of themain bed frame and through the corresponding members of the supplementalframe. Nuts I are threaded onto the ends of shaft 6 for securing thesame to the bed, and fixed, spaced collars 8 are provided to preventlateral movement of frame 5 into contact with the main frame 4.

Suspended below the frame 4, as by means of hangers 9 is an angle bar I0extending transversely of the bed. This bar is shown as located towardthe head of the bedbut it will be obvious that it might be placed in acorresponding position at the opposite end of the bed if desired.Moreover, it will be apparent that the longitudinalpositicn of the barHi and its vertical distan'ce below the frame G will determine the limitof downward inclination of the supplemental frame 5 at that end of thebed.

Depending from the bar in is a pair of hangers H for supportingthe endsof a shaft l2 and a hanger I3 for supporting the central portionthereof. The shaft I2 is provided with right and left hand screw threadsl4 and i5 for cooperation with similarly threaded follower blocks l6 andI1, and on the ends of the shaft are secured crankengaging pins I8 towhich. a crank 20 may be detachably connected.

Connecting rods or links 2l-2l have their inner ends pivotally mountedin bearing members 22 formed on the follower blocks 16-41. The oppositeends of the links 2| are pivotally connected to bracket members 23 fixedto the sides of the supplemental frame 5.

Rotation of the shaft l2 in one direction will, of course, cause theblocks iii-l1 to travel inwardly toward the middle of the shaft, therebydrawing the links 2| into more or less horizontal positions and loweringthe supplemental frame intosubstantially horizontal position. Rotationof the shaft l2 in the opposite direction will, of course, cause theblocks IB-Il to travel outwardly toward the ends of the shaft. Thismovement of the blocks will move the links 2| toward a vertical positionand consequently raise the adjacent end of the bed as indicated inFigure 1.

The duplicate crank-engaging means at opposite ends of shaft I2 permitthe nurse or other operator of the bed to adjust the position of thesupplemental frame from either side of the bed, which is in itself adistinct advantage under many conditions arising in the hospitalizationof patients. Moreover, the use of a screw as the power transmittingmeans not only permits a patients position to be readily altered withoutinconvenience and with slight exertion on the part of the operator, butalso serves as an effective lock to securely hold the supplemental framein the position to which it is adjusted.

While the primary purpose of the present invention relates to thepositioning of the patient in an inclined position with the head eitherabove or below the horizontal plane of the bed, nevertheless theinvention also comprehends a construction whereby the patient may bemoved to various other positions from time to time as desired.

To this end there is associated with the pivoted frame 5, in theembodiment of the invention shown herein, a sectional bed springcomposed of the sections 30, 3|, 32 and 33. The section 3| is relativelyshort and is fixed to the supplemental frame at a point adjacent themiddle of its length. Pivoted to .one end of section 3| is the section30 at the head of the bed, While at the opposite end of section 3| thesection 32 is pivoted. The foot section 33 of the spring is pivoted tothe adjacent end of section 32.

The sections 30 and 32 of the bed spring may be raised to variousangular positions by means of pairs of links 34. These links have theirupper ends pivoted to the respective sections, and their opposite endsare pivoted to follower blocks 35--36 engaged on right and left handthreaded shafts 31 mounted on the supplemental frame 5. The section 33is not provided with operating levers inasmuch as it will beautomatically raised or lowered as the section 32 to which it ispivotally connected is raised or lowered.

The operation of the several parts of the apparatus has been describedin connection with the description of the structural details, and willbe repeated only in a general way.

In the ordinary operation of the bed, the supplemental frame 5 will beadjusted to horizontal position, and the several sections of the bedspring will lie flat on the supplemental frame. When it is founddesirable to tilt the patients body to a head downward position, as inthe case of shock, spinal anesthesia, etc., or to the Fowler position asin peritonitis, etc., it is only necessary to turn the crank 20 in theproper direction to produce a clockwise or counter-clockwise movement ofthe supplemental frame 5. When the desired inclination of the frame isaccomplished the movement of the crank is discontinued and the framewill be automatically locked in such position.

Should it be desired to move the patient to a sitting posture, as atmealtime, or for any other purpose, or to raise him to a recliningposition for reading or the like, this may be readily accomplished bysuitable operation of either or both of the shafts 31 which serve toelevate or lower the bed spring sections 30, 32 and 33. It will also beunderstood of course that the sections of the bed spring may be thusadjusted regardless of whether the supplemental frame is in horizontalor inclined position.

From the foregoing description and the accompanying drawing it will beapparent that the improved hospital bed is readily adaptable topractically any position which treatment of the patient, or hisconvenience, may dictate, and that the adjustability of the bed isaccomplished with a minimum amount of structure and a minimum amount ofeffort on the part of the operator.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described what I nowbelieve to be the preferred form of the invention, but inasmuch asvarious changes may be made in the structural details without departingfrom the spirit of the invention, it is intended all such changes beincluded within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A hospital bed including a fixed substantially rectangular main frame, arigid supplemental frame pivotally supported by the main frameintermediate the length of the supplemental frame,.

a hanger depending from each side of the main frame and rigidly attachedthereto, a horizontal bar rigidly connecting the lower ends of thehangers, other hangers depending from the said bar and rigid therewith,a horizontally arranged threaded shaft mounted in the lower ends of saidlast mentioned hangers, and spaced a substantial distance below theplane of the supplemental frame when the latter is in normal position,whereby the supplemental frame may be tilted either forwardly orrearwardly, follower blocks threaded to the shaft, means for connectingthe blocks with the supplemental frame, a sectional spring frame on thesupplemental frame, a threaded shaft on the supplemental frame, followerblocks threaded to the last-mentioned shaft, connections between thelast-mentioned follower blocks and one of the sections of the springframe, and means for rotating each of said shafts.

HERBERT I-I. HAYNES.

